Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.Isaiah 56:1

The Devil as a Roaring Lion

1 Peter 5:88 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary
the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom
he may devour

The verse in question is often quoted in support of the
popular belief in a supernatural personal Agent of evil,
briefly described as the Devil, possessing attributes of
omnipotence and omnipresence almost equal to God. But
Peter's expression does not convey that idea at all. To
understand his meaning consider the scriptural use of the
words : Devil, Lion, Roaring, Devour, and Prey.

DEVIL.- The primary meaning of this word is "a
false accuser" or "slanderer," diabolos being
derived from diaballo, to thrust through, defame,
"accuse" (see Luke 16 : 1). It is applied to men who
slander God and oppose His truth. Thus, speaking of Judas,
Jesus said, "Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of
you is a devil?" (John 6: 70). And Paul, speaking of
deacons, says, "So must their wives be grave, not
slanderers" (diaboloi, 1 Tim. 3 : 11). And
again, "Men shall be false accusers" (diaboloi, 2
Tim. 3 : 3). Thus "devil" is human, masculine or feminine;
and like "man" may be either singular or plural. When Peter
speaks of "your adversary, the devil,"he means not
the imaginary fiend of Miltonic theology, but the aggregate
of human enmity, and evil speaking, of which he had
been telling the brethren in ch. 4 : 2, 3, 4. Hence the
exhortation, "Be sober, be vigilant." So, in his
second epistle, Peter goes on to warn his brethren against
"false teachers. . . who shall privily bring in damnable
heresies" (ch. 2 : 1), "speaking evil of things they
understand not" (v. 12), and "beguiling unstable souls" (v.
14).

LION.- Beasts are not infrequently used in the
scriptures to symbolize both nations and men. Daniel says
he saw "four great beasts come up from the sea" (Dan. 7 :
3). These are explained to be "four kings," or kingdoms (v.
17). "The first was like a lion" (v. 4), and represented
the Babylonian kingdom (Jer. 4: 7; 50: 17). It was a great
blasphemer of God and destroyer of His people Israel. The
Psalms contain many references to the wicked as wild beasts
: "He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den"
(Psa. 10 : 9). "Strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
They gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and
roaring lion" (Psa. 22: 12, 13). "Save me from the
lion's mouth" (v. 21). This was prophetic of Christ when
his adversary the devil put him to death by crucifixion.
When hanging on the cross he cried, "My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me" (the opening lamentation of this
22nd Psalm). If we would have the matter still more clearly
put we may read Psa. 57 : 4 "My soul is among lions . .
. even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and
arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword." "He lieth in wait
secretly as a lion in his den : he lieth in wait to catch
the poor" (Psa. 10 : 9).

ROARING.- When Israel was spoiled by the enemy,
"The young lions roared upon him, and yelled; and
they made his land waste" (Jer. 2 : 15). And, foretelling
the desolation of Babylon, the prophet said, "They shall
roar together like lions."

The devil roared like a lion at Ephesus, against Paul
and the Christians (Acts 19: 34). And the Jewish cry
against Jesus, "Crucify him, crucify him" (John 19 : 6),
was another illustration of "a soul among lions." The Papal
devil roared like a lion against Luther and the Reformers.
"He spake as a dragon" (Rev. 13 : 11). "As a roaring
lion, and a ranging bear, so is a wicked ruler
among his people" (Prov. 28: 15). Peter warned believers
against such "wicked rulers." The Roman Magistracy was the
antidikos, or "adversary," in question.

DEVOUR.- This does not signify the eternal
torment of "immortal souls" in a fiery hell, but the
destruction of character, property and life upon earth. The
Pharisees "devoured widows' houses" (Matt. 23: 14). "The
wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than
he" (Hab. 1: 13). The devil sought to devour Christ in
infancy: "Herod will seek the young child to destroy him"
(Matt. 2: 13). "There is a generation whose teeth are as
swords and their jaw-teeth as knives, to devour the poor
from off the earth" (Prov. 30: 14 -- compare Psa. 57 : 4).
"Your own sword hath devoured your prophets" (Jer. 2 : 30).
God's "fiery indignation shall devour the adversaries"
(Heb. 10: 27) in the day of judgment. That is, the devil
himself will then be devoured. The false prophets in Israel
like roaring lions "devoured souls" (Ezek. 22: 25).
They "destroyed souls" in getting dishonest gain by
idolatry (v. 26-29), the practice of which meant death
without remedy. The early Christians were thus tempted of
the devil, when the Roman magistrates persuaded them to
execrate Christ, offer sacrifice to idols, and so to save
their lives. The devil was too much for some of them, hence
we hear Paul say, "At my first answer, no man stood by me,
but all forsook me . . . nevertheless the Lord stood with
me . . . and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion"
(2 Tim. 4 : 16, 17). "The lion" here is "the devil" of 1
Pet. 5 : 8; that is, the Roman tribunal. It was of this
also that Christ afterwards Wrote to the church at Smyrna,
saying, "The devil shall cast some of you into prison
that ye may be tried" (Rev. 2 : 10). The popular
"Devil" is supposed to cast "immortal souls" into
"hell-fire" after they have been tried and found wanting;
but here Christ exhorts these to be, like Paul, "faithful
unto death," and promises such devil-imprisoned but
faithful saints "a crown of life." "He that overcometh
shall not be hurt of the second death" (v. 11).

PREY.- It is obvious from what has already been
said that "the prey" of "the devil" was the Christians
themselves - their lives and all their belongings. In
Peter's day, as in the day of Isaiah, the wicked were in
power: "Truth faileth, and he that departeth from evil
maketh himself a prey" (Isa. 59: 15). The nation of
Israel was the prey of Babylon. "My flock became a
prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the
field" (Ezek. 34 : 8). These beasts of the field were the
surrounding nations: "They shall become a prey and a
spoil to all their enemies" (2 Kings 21 : 14). God,
in fact, devoured Israel by these instruments : "I will
devour them like a lion" (Hos. 13: 7, 8). Such has been
the condition of Israel for many centuries. But a great
reversal is at hand for Israel and for the saints as well.
"All that devour thee (O Israel) shall be devoured . . .
all they that prey upon thee will I give for a prey
(Jer. 30: 16). "The remnant of Jacob shall be among the
Gentiles . . . as a young lion among flocks of sheep
" (Micah 5 : 8). "Thou (Israel) art my battle-axe and
weapons of war, for with thee will I break in pieces the
nations" (Jer. 51: 20). That is why we are hearing so much
about Zionism and the idea of a new Jewish State. "The Lion
of the Tribe of Judah" (Rev. 5 : 5) is about to intervene
to re-establish the throne and kingdom of David and to bind
the devil and cast him into the abyss for a thousand years
(Rev. 20: 1-4). "Like as the lion and the young lion
roaring on his prey. . . so shall the Lord of Hosts come
down to fight for Mount Zion" (Isa. 31: 4). The devil will
have taken the land for "a prey" (Ezek. 38: 12), but
God in Christ will wrest it from him. "Shall the
prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive be
delivered? But thus saith the Lord, Even the
captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the
prey of the terrible shall be delivered; for I will
contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save
thy children" (Isa. 49 24, 25). "Therefore, wait ye upon me
(all ye meek of the earth, ch. 2 3), saith the Lord, until
the day that I rise u to the prey for my
determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble
the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all
my fierce anger, for all the earth shall be
devoured with the fire of my jealousy" (Zeph. 3 8).
Then God will "break out the great teeth of the young
lions" (Psa. 58 6) and destroy the "grievous wolves" that
have not spared the flock (Acts 20 : 29). Then the faithful
saints, who, in Peter's day and afterwards, "resisted" the
devil, being "stedfast in the faith," and "overcame him by
the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony,
and loved not their lives unto death" (Rev. 12 : 9, 11),
will turn upon him with a two-edged sword. "Let the saints
be joyful in glory . . . a two-edged sword in their hand,
to execute vengeance upon the heathen (nations), to bind
their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of
iron, to execute upon them the judgments written : this
honour have ALL HIS SAINTS" (Psa. 149 5-9). Thus the
"adversary," "devil," "roaring lion," "dragon," "old
serpent," "satan," will be bound and cast into the abyss
for a thousand years, while Christ and the saints reign
upon earth.